The preparation for this trip started out with a lot of unknowns. It had been many years since I played in the BCA/CSI amateur events and I prepared fairly well for what I thought would be average players, even buying a set of Cyclop balls to practice with and playing almost exclusively on bar tables.
I had practiced enough against fairly good players from my area and did well against them. What I didn't realize is the depth of the talent pool in the Open Division of both 8 ball and 9 ball.
I knew the 9 Ball division would be fast and furious and I won one match and lost one and was quickly out of the tournament. Short races and singe elimination are fraught with peril as Grad Matthews would say.
The 8 Ball division was double elimination and I thought I was a pretty good 8 ball player but got spanked pretty good there too. My first match was against Don McClellan from California and he had me down 3-1 before I could blink an eye. I bared down and wound up winning the next 3 games, breaking and running two of those leading 4-3. Don won the next game tying it up 4-4 and I missed what I thought was an easy run out. I shot my final object ball (a long distance shot about 5 1/2 feet distance between cue ball and OB) at a slow speed with the cue ball only to completely miss the OB and the cue ball hit the rail first and then barely struck the OB, and so I ended up giving Don cue in hand and control of the match.
I played a couple of fine sportsmen from New Zealand who had a lot of fight in them but managed to win against both of them. One of them at 9 ball and the other at 8 ball. My final match in 8 ball was against Rob Metz and he played very well, spanking me 5-2 but it could easily have been far worse. I played poorly against Rob who came out the gate real strong and played very well most of the match. I think I could have given him a better game but I didn't.
What I think I learned was that I don't play tough competition on bar tables in my area on a regular enough basis. Who knows, if I want to pursue this bar table events, I may just have to join a pool leagues where you are constantly playing against seasoned bar table players to become more competitive.
I didn't play in any team events and didn't play in the second chance 8 ball event. I did play in some of the mini-tournaments (WHICH ARE GREAT, IMO) and had a rather impressive record for a couple of days when I played in them. It kind of helped puff up my well-deflated ego if only for the moment of playing in them.
The costs for eating at the Rio were astronomical when you consider that I was there for 8 days. After I caught up with Ray Hansen of PoolActionTV.com, he was kind enough to give me a ride to purchase some food for eating in my room. To give you an idea of the costs, I paid $2.60 for a fifteen cent banana and $3.50 for a twenty-five cent bottle of water, $32 for one simple breakfast and two coffees. The Hash House sure likes to use mozzarella cheese in their scrambled eggs. Me, not so much. Don't like the stretchy cheese when I am eating eggs. I thought I might have been a little tight with my money but I heard many complaints about the cost of food and drinks at this event. $12 for a Jack and coke. I guess it doesn't matter if you are going to be there for a few days but stretch that in to a 9 day adventure and pretty soon, you're feeling the pain. I bought a case of Spring water (I drink a lot of that) and wound up giving away almost half of it.
The tables played great except for that one long distance slow shot that I completely missed the object ball and gave my opponent cue in hand to win the match. Oh well. Yeah, I know, don't shoot the cue ball slowly on bar tables, well in this case, I just had to. I guess you would have to seen the shot.
I decided to see if I could still play blackjack and found a single deck game with 6-5 on blackjack, no double down after splitting pairs but still managed to win some money before heading home.
I had a fantastic time spending time with Scott Rabon and Ray Hansen, going up to Mt. Charleston for one of the days and taking some photos.
Donnie Mills noticed that I went there from a FB post I did and like a lot of pro players, he had to copy JoeyA's style and go up there too. Bunch of copycats those pro players.
I hung out with Steve McDonald for a few hours and had a marvelous time. He and Nick are close friends and we shared lots of stories about Nick and had a great time. I had never met Steve before this event but he and I know and like a lot of the same people like his roommate Paul Smith. "There sure are a lot of friendly people here in Las Vegas". Steve is as good a story teller as Nick Varner, that's for sure.
Mark Griffin was kind enough to spend some valuable, quality time with me talking about health issues and other things. That guy is TOUGH AS NAILS, just take my word for it.
Mike Page of Fargo Billiards and Gastropub, shared some FANTASTIC insights in to FARGO RATING, which is a system for accurately measuring the level of a pool player's speed. This will become a tool that will enhance pocket billiards all over the world. In fact, it is already making its mark around the world. This is an APP that every pool player will want to have in his/her arsenal as soon as it become available to the public.
I witnessed Shane Van Boening in the mini-tournament room, playing pool with two young boys (who had game). The two boys looked to be about 8 years old (no more than 4 foot tall) and they could run a rack every now and then. Shane spent some quality time with them, probably 30 minutes to an hour playing pool with them. The two boys now have memories of playing America's best player to follow them for a life time. Shane showed what it is to possess CLASS. Pro players: Take notes from Shane. He's got it together!:yeah:
In summary, currently, I lack what it takes to play at the highest level even in the Open Division. You have no idea about the level of the talent pool in this division if you haven't been there yourself. It almost felt like they purposefully put me against the best players in the event although I know that would never happen. Maybe I need to join the BCA pool league and really learn how to play 8 ball.
JoeyA
JoeyA
I had practiced enough against fairly good players from my area and did well against them. What I didn't realize is the depth of the talent pool in the Open Division of both 8 ball and 9 ball.
I knew the 9 Ball division would be fast and furious and I won one match and lost one and was quickly out of the tournament. Short races and singe elimination are fraught with peril as Grad Matthews would say.
The 8 Ball division was double elimination and I thought I was a pretty good 8 ball player but got spanked pretty good there too. My first match was against Don McClellan from California and he had me down 3-1 before I could blink an eye. I bared down and wound up winning the next 3 games, breaking and running two of those leading 4-3. Don won the next game tying it up 4-4 and I missed what I thought was an easy run out. I shot my final object ball (a long distance shot about 5 1/2 feet distance between cue ball and OB) at a slow speed with the cue ball only to completely miss the OB and the cue ball hit the rail first and then barely struck the OB, and so I ended up giving Don cue in hand and control of the match.
I played a couple of fine sportsmen from New Zealand who had a lot of fight in them but managed to win against both of them. One of them at 9 ball and the other at 8 ball. My final match in 8 ball was against Rob Metz and he played very well, spanking me 5-2 but it could easily have been far worse. I played poorly against Rob who came out the gate real strong and played very well most of the match. I think I could have given him a better game but I didn't.
What I think I learned was that I don't play tough competition on bar tables in my area on a regular enough basis. Who knows, if I want to pursue this bar table events, I may just have to join a pool leagues where you are constantly playing against seasoned bar table players to become more competitive.
I didn't play in any team events and didn't play in the second chance 8 ball event. I did play in some of the mini-tournaments (WHICH ARE GREAT, IMO) and had a rather impressive record for a couple of days when I played in them. It kind of helped puff up my well-deflated ego if only for the moment of playing in them.
The costs for eating at the Rio were astronomical when you consider that I was there for 8 days. After I caught up with Ray Hansen of PoolActionTV.com, he was kind enough to give me a ride to purchase some food for eating in my room. To give you an idea of the costs, I paid $2.60 for a fifteen cent banana and $3.50 for a twenty-five cent bottle of water, $32 for one simple breakfast and two coffees. The Hash House sure likes to use mozzarella cheese in their scrambled eggs. Me, not so much. Don't like the stretchy cheese when I am eating eggs. I thought I might have been a little tight with my money but I heard many complaints about the cost of food and drinks at this event. $12 for a Jack and coke. I guess it doesn't matter if you are going to be there for a few days but stretch that in to a 9 day adventure and pretty soon, you're feeling the pain. I bought a case of Spring water (I drink a lot of that) and wound up giving away almost half of it.
The tables played great except for that one long distance slow shot that I completely missed the object ball and gave my opponent cue in hand to win the match. Oh well. Yeah, I know, don't shoot the cue ball slowly on bar tables, well in this case, I just had to. I guess you would have to seen the shot.
I decided to see if I could still play blackjack and found a single deck game with 6-5 on blackjack, no double down after splitting pairs but still managed to win some money before heading home.
I had a fantastic time spending time with Scott Rabon and Ray Hansen, going up to Mt. Charleston for one of the days and taking some photos.
Donnie Mills noticed that I went there from a FB post I did and like a lot of pro players, he had to copy JoeyA's style and go up there too. Bunch of copycats those pro players.
I hung out with Steve McDonald for a few hours and had a marvelous time. He and Nick are close friends and we shared lots of stories about Nick and had a great time. I had never met Steve before this event but he and I know and like a lot of the same people like his roommate Paul Smith. "There sure are a lot of friendly people here in Las Vegas". Steve is as good a story teller as Nick Varner, that's for sure.
Mark Griffin was kind enough to spend some valuable, quality time with me talking about health issues and other things. That guy is TOUGH AS NAILS, just take my word for it.
Mike Page of Fargo Billiards and Gastropub, shared some FANTASTIC insights in to FARGO RATING, which is a system for accurately measuring the level of a pool player's speed. This will become a tool that will enhance pocket billiards all over the world. In fact, it is already making its mark around the world. This is an APP that every pool player will want to have in his/her arsenal as soon as it become available to the public.
I witnessed Shane Van Boening in the mini-tournament room, playing pool with two young boys (who had game). The two boys looked to be about 8 years old (no more than 4 foot tall) and they could run a rack every now and then. Shane spent some quality time with them, probably 30 minutes to an hour playing pool with them. The two boys now have memories of playing America's best player to follow them for a life time. Shane showed what it is to possess CLASS. Pro players: Take notes from Shane. He's got it together!:yeah:
In summary, currently, I lack what it takes to play at the highest level even in the Open Division. You have no idea about the level of the talent pool in this division if you haven't been there yourself. It almost felt like they purposefully put me against the best players in the event although I know that would never happen. Maybe I need to join the BCA pool league and really learn how to play 8 ball.
JoeyA
JoeyA
